Oberoi to feed 190 bodybuilders

Actor Govinda has crooned a number epitomising the egg on celluloid. Now, this song can be the anthem at The Oberoi hotel in the city. The hotel is gearing up to meet the dietary demands of 190 body builders who will set its floorboards creaking as they arrive for the 57th Men’s World Bodybuilding Championships – Mr Universe 2003, to be held at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) from November 7 to November 9. The body builders from 54 different countries will be staying at The Oberoi.

Executive sous chef Prakash Pawaskar is unfazed. “We are used to catering to large numbers and are well-stocked. The only extraordinarily large stock we will be ordering is eggs.”

Bodybuilders eat an average of 30 egg whites a day (this is a conservative estimate). So, to feed 190 bodybuilders, the hotel will need 5,700 eggs a day.

The rest, Pawaskar says, is easy. The Oberoi kitchen will cook salt-less, oil-less food for the athletes. Says Pawaskar with a laugh, “I was told that if others find the food tasteless, then it is just right for bodybuilders.” The food, which is high-protein and low-carbohydrate, will be boiled, grilled or steamed in the hotel’s combi-ovens.

The chef admits that though the hotel is used to demands for special or diet food, this is the first time the 15-member banquet team will be providing special food for such a large number at one time.

Datuk Paul Chua, vice president, Asia, International Federation of Bodybuilders, says, “We had a meeting with the chef about the meals. The bodybuilders will be eating the egg whites and not the yolks as they contain cholesterol. Absolutely no salt is allowed as it causes water retention and bloating. If they eat anything that causes water retention, they will lose muscle definition.

The bodybuilders will be drinking distilled water (which is gas free). Lunch and dinner may consist of grilled and steamed fish, green vegetables and plain rice or pasta. A lot of pineapple will be on the menu as it is an enzyme and helps break up the food.”

In a sport where a gram of body weight over the limit can pitch a bodybuilder into a heavier category and nullify his chances of winning, body builders if they are a kilo overweight get half an hour to reduce their weight. They use those 30 minutes clothed in warm clothes and run to ‘sweat’ out the weight.

Says Chua, “Sometimes, they do go over the weight limit if they eat wrong. However, bodybuilders understand the anatomy best. For them, the body is the temple and they will do everything to preserve the temple they have worked so hard to build.”